Hey , Shirley ! Want to join me for lunch ... my treat !   Wow ! Sure !   I must confess I have an ulterior motive for asking you to lunch .   Oh ... that's OK ... as long as you're buying !   I really want to pick your brain about something I've been thinking a lot about .   I'd love to help if I can .   Well , as you know , I have a Bachelor's degree in English literature and that's served me well so far , but I've always wanted to do some post-graduate work ... maybe even get a Doctorate !   Wow ! Just the idea of going back to school fills my head with pain .   But you have a Master's degree ... hasn't that helped your career ?   Yeah , I'd have to say it has . But I'm still paying for it , you know .   I know education is expensive , but it's been my lifelong dream . Call me crazy , but I've always wanted to have that PhD at the end of my name .   Well , getting a Doctorate degree would mean close to a decade of school . Can you afford that ? Can you survive that ?   I certainly can't afford it , but I'm sure I could find some good student loans .   I think you need to separate the dream of having a PhD from the reality of years of more schooling . It's not as romantic as you might think .   Yeah ... I keep thinking about what I'll do with a Master's or Doctorate . I love language but I don't think there are a lot of well-paying jobs out there for experts on Shakespeare .   Uh huh , that's for sure . You might find that your only career choice is teaching other graduate students . 